§ 2.39 p.m.
§ Lord Jenkins of PutneyMy Lords, I beg leave to ask the Question which stands in my name on the Order Paper.
§ The Question was as follows:
§ To ask Her Majesty's Government whether they are aware that the decision of the United States Government to equip a rapid deployment force is more likely to create insecurity among nations than reassurance.
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Belstead)My Lords, as my right honourable friend the Prime Minister said in another place on 2nd March 1981, we support the concept of a United States rapid deployment force. Since the force is not intended for use without the agreement of those in the region concerned, we believe that the rapid deployment 3 force will preserve security by deterring the Soviet Union from encroaching on Western interests in areas of the world outside NATO responsibilities.
§ Lord Jenkins of PutneyMy Lords, is the Minister aware that, in a letter to President Reagan, the Labour Party said:
We regard it as vital that nations should be able to resolve local differences without fear of great power involvement and consider the existence of an American rapid deployment force may increase fears that the United States will decide to intervene in local conflicts?
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, that may be the view of the Labour Party. It is the view of the Government that if we really are concerned to protect the freedom of the West, it is necessary to protect that freedom wherever it may be challenged.
§ Lord Boyd-CarpenterMy Lords, is my noble friend aware that the vast majority of people who recognise that the main threat to peace comes from the possibility of Russian aggression are delighted to see our American allies taking steps to equip themselves for that quick action in an emergency which can prevent trouble from spreading?
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, I agree entirely with my noble friend.
§ Lord AveburyMy Lords, can the noble Lord tell the House how the rapid deployment force could have been able to prevent Ethiopian aggression against Eritrea or the present happenings in the Lebanon?
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, that is a hypothetical question to which the noble Lord must await an answer.
§ Lord GiffordMy Lords, is not one of the countries in which the rapid deployment force will be stationed Morocco, which is far from being a free country, but one of the most reactionary kingdoms in the world? Does that make sense of the Minister's reply that this is there to defend freedom?
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, the noble Lord's supplementary question does not make sense in the context in which the rapid deployment force was set. If the noble Lord casts his mind back he will remember that the rapid deployment force was set up by the US Government (or, at least, the concept was explained by the US Government) in the general context of the Soviet threat to the area of the East—Iran, Pakistan, and the oil interests in that particular area.
§ Lord BrockwayMy Lords, will not the Minister agree that unilateral actions of this kind are likely to prejudice the beginning of negotiations between the USA and the USSR at START today?
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, no.
§ Lord Jenkins of PutneyMy Lords, does the noble Lord regard Iran and Pakistan as models of that freedom which the West seeks to defend?
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, no, but the United States Government was concerned about the threat of the Soviet Union, in military terms, operating on comparatively short lines of communication against the Western alliance who had been operating on long lines of communication in an area of the world where the oil interests were very great indeed. It was in that context that the United States Government took a decision which the Government of the United Kingdom believe to be prudent and which the United Kingdom Government support.
§ The Earl of OnslowMy Lords, was that not a reasonable decision to take, considering that Afghanistan was invaded, and though, admittedly, Afghanistan was not a model of democratic Western, liberal democracy, at least the Afghans would rather make their own mistakes and slit each other's throats without having the Russians helping them to do so?
§ Lord BelsteadMy Lords, I am grateful to my noble friend for that supplementary question. It was in the context of the unwarrantable aggression against Afghanistan that this particular strategic concept was originally announced.